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Message: <blockquote data-quote="HMCS(FMF)Ret." data-source="post: 1401439" data-attributes="member: 12635">Ahh....found more to the story.Hot rod enthusiast Robert Bernhardt was prepared to protect himself and his property. But he didn't want to have to kill a man who invaded his south Oklahoma City car shop in the middle of the night. Bernhardt, 46, is a mechanic who rebuilds old cars in his shop at 1032 SE 25. An apartment comes with the property, and he and his wife were sleeping there Thursday night.Shortly before 2:30 a.m., he was awakened by a sound that turned out to be a man burglarizing his car. The car was parked just outside his window, inside the fenced property.Bernhardt grabbed his .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol and headed outside to confront the burglar, who he said had helped himself to some of the tools and stereo equipment he'd found in the car.Bernhardt confronted a man police later identified as felon Buddy Harlan McGuire, 47.The burglar began to run, tossing items stolen from the car in Bernhardt's direction. The burglar had not found a gun that was hidden in his car, Bernhardt said.The burglar jumped onto a retaining wall next to a chain-link fence. Bernhardt said he fired a shot, hoping to get the burglar to stop so he could hold him for police.I put one into the ground, Bernhardt said. And my wife heard the gunshot and called 911. The whole thing took about eight minutes.The burglar didn't want to wait for police to arrive, Bernhardt said.He said, I'm not going back to prison! You'll have to kill me!' Bernhardt said.The burglar was standing above him on the wall, Bernhardt said, and he saw him reach into his pocket.I said, Why are you doing this to me? I will shoot you, Bernhardt said.The burglar had a wild look in his eyes like he was going to either jump me or pull a weapon, Bernhardt said.Bernhardt said he fired another round into the ground, then fired a shot from about 10 feet away that hit the intruder in the left calf.I had the gun aimed point-blank at his chest but I just shot him in the leg, Bernhardt said. I just made a last-minute decision not to shoot him in the chest.The burglar fell to the ground, and that's where police officers found the two, Oklahoma City police Master Sgt. Gary Knight said.McGuire was taken to OU Medical Center, where he was treated for a gunshot wound, then booked into jail on a second-degree burglary complaint, Knight said.Knight said a knife he described as a Buck knife or a hunting knife was found in McGuire's waistband.Bernhardt was not cited by police, Knight said. A full report will be sent to the district attorney's office since a felony arrest was involved, he said.Bernhardt said he works as a superintendent for Wattie Wolfe Mechanical Co., a mechanical contracting firm.He is also a member of Deuces Wild, a local hot rod club. He rebuilds and restores vintage cars, turning them into hot rods. Bernhardt said he was interviewed at the district attorney's office Friday morning. He said he has had previous problems with burglaries at the shop. Oklahoma County court records show McGuire was convicted in 1992 on felony charges of first-degree and second-degree burglary, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and robbery with a firearm. McGuire was released from prison in 2008, state Corrections Department records show.</blockquote>

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